Back in the 80's there was a Sleaford Mods on every corner.They were called the Socialist Workers and they worked acapella but the idea was the same. Of course they didn't manage to overthrow capitalism,but maybe the SMods will have better luck and five years from now society will be miles better.

I saw the documentary Bunch of Kunst at the Camberwell Film Festival yesterday, and really enjoyed it. It follows them for 2 years from playing pubs up until they sign with Rough Trade, was interesting a quite funny in places, they are such and antidote to your standard rock stars.

You get a sense of contradiction in that the more successful they get, the further away they get from the subject matter of their songs.

I could see the initial appeal. I can see why it was a welcome kick up the arse and why the documentation of collapsing lives and communities stuck in precarious work/no work or life sapping mindless middle management work was necessary. The collaborative work on ‘austerity Britain’ was great.

But the sound and message hasn’t changed or evolved much over the period has it?

Each to their own and all that, but they’ve failed miserably to use their platform to flesh out their thinking, expand on their enquiry into austerity Britain or even advance the music in new directions.

Instead, they seem to be flogging the successful formula to death with the inevitable diminishing returns. They aren’t the first band to become what they once criticised but the endless love on urban for them is baffling

Nov 2014
"I've been lower-middle class since I was 15, so it's not exactly some skin-of-my-teeth existence. I still think people just understand the misery of being tied down to something you don't enjoy for 40 hours a week. A lot of these unskilled jobs - the type of jobs I was doing - don't pay enough. There are loads of workers that you think are your friends, but it turns out they're only looking out for themselves in order to secure a few more quid. It p***es you off. All those things combine into a terrible melting pot." JWSleaford Mods: Q&A - BelfastTelegraph.co.uk

April 2015
In spite of their working-class appeal, the duo don’t consider themselves to be a working-class band. “If it’s speaking to the working classes that’s great but that was not the intention,” says Fearn. “No,” agrees Williamson. “We’re not socialists, we’re not f**king communists and we’re not Billy Bragg-ists. We’re just talking about what we’ve been through. And we’re doing it in a way that is just normal to ourselves.”Sleaford Mods on David Cameron's insincerity and Noel Gallagher being a 'secret Tory'

July 2015
“I suppose we're talking about more real things than a lot of bands, so people take that in. But the whole 'working class' thing pisses me off because I had nothing but misery when I was in that situation, and most of the people I came into contact with were complete fucking cunts. What I liked was the humour you get from working shit jobs and that – that gives me a sense of pride. You're making something from nothing on a factory line, it's shit and you're depressed, but then someone cracks a joke... and that's just gold.”
...
“Someone had a go at me recently for this, for playing down the working class thing – I flew off the fucking handle. I like the way I talk, and I like my friends and family and I like my sense of humour and the sense of humour my friends have got. That's what it means to me – that's all. The environment I was brought up in and the values within that. And you know, if you really want to talk about it, I've probably been lower middle class since I was about 15 anyway, so fuck it...”The Quietus | Features | A Quietus Interview | Life In Hell: Sleaford Mods Interviewed By Taylor Parkes

March 2017
“Half the time people aren’t even listening to the fucking words. You get a reputation as the voice of the working class, but I write about the day-to-day. Just because I was working nine to five, predominantly unskilled jobs, doesn’t mean I was working-class. I grew up in a working-class area and it was shit. I just wanted to get out.” JWSleaford Mods’ guide to modern Britain: ‘There is lots of pain’

March 2017
"I come from a working class family, and the working classes are extremely able. This country might be obsessed with class – it’s nowhere near as big an issue in Europe; the notion is there, but here we see it as a trap – but the working class aren’t living in caves.
...
People talk about us being part of a new wave of political bands in the UK, and I do now feel more of a responsibility to be politicized. When we first started out I was weary of being seen in this way; I didn’t want to be tagged as another Billy Bragg, or The Housemartins. And since Brexit I’ve found you can’t open your mouth and have an opinion, because people will accuse you of being just another clueless, middle class lefty. The trolls come out and it’s all... “Look at you. You’re in a band, you work a lot in Europe, you earn a decent wage; of course you are going to want to stay in Europe. But I work in a pea factory, I earn fuck all. You don’t understand us”. But they’re clearly not listening to the fucking music, are they? I’ve worked everywhere: warehouses, shops, as a security guard, I’ve worked for the council, I’ve worked in a chicken factory. Nowadays, everything Sleaford Mods does is political. It’s an intrinsic part of who we are and what we do. We talk about the day-to-day, about the loneliness and alienation of existence in this country." JWThe angriest (and most political) band in Britain

July 2018
Q. Are you concerned that the working class themes you have previously written about may become diluted as a result of your success?
A. I do think about this a lot. I used to beat myself up about it, but I have to inject some reason into it. I am never going to write "Jobseeeker" again, obviously. But as long as the output is still as genuine as it's always been, then I'm at no fault. We've got a duty to be genuine, but that's as far as it goes. I don't think the working-class thing ever leaves you. That will always be there. But I'm not gonna do a Crass, I'm not going to reject success. I'm just not like that. And we didn't get into this game to do that; we got into it 'cos we like music. It just so happened that our music was full of aggro and frustration and discussed real issues, not bullshit.

Q. Artisan coffee shops - boon or scourge?
Oh, I like 'em. I go in 'em, yeah. Fuck it! It's come with gentrification: the coffee shop, "Hi guys!", smashed avocado. But I've fuckin' soaked it all up, you know what I mean? I walk around with my wife and we go and sit in coffee shops. We don't go in bars, so that's our little treat. It's a tough one. It goes back to the question about are you worried about your working-class message getting diluted. I didn't even think 'working class' when I started writing. But you get tagged with it, and in the end you put that hat on. But even if you're earning 80 grand a year - and I know a few who are - it's still shit. There's still fucking stress. A lot of them are working month to month, and if somebody goes ill they're fucked. Mortgage payments down the hole. A lot of people are holding on to a thin piece of cotton, and I think that's why we resonate with them.PressReader.com - Connecting People Through News